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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: calf · cold · club · pitcher · degree · staff · wound · vault

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. vault — a safe
  3. degree — from a university
  4. staff — employees
  5. degree — temperature
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. staff — a stick
  8. wound — an injury
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. club — for golf
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. club — for dancing
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — an illness
  20. degree — an amount
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. cold — not warm
  23. staff — employees
  24. club — a group

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com